This week, one of our community members emailed me saying, “I wish I believed in myself as much as you all do!!!” While I am so glad she feels supported by us, which she is, it prompted me to think about the whole idea of “belief in oneself.” Is “self-belief” really a source of comfort and confidence? In this post, I’ll share why it never has been for me and what I’ve found to be even more helpful and re-assuring.

As far as self-belief, I must say I’ve never had much belief in myself. When I witness the doubts, anxieties, and ups and downs of how my small, little, “local self” thinks and feels, this doesn’t give me much assurance that “I can do it.”

Fortunately, I’ve found that deeper guidance is available.

Underneath the pressures and fears that my personality experiences, there is “something more.” When I allow my mind to quiet down, my emotions to calm, and my body to relax, I discover an inner guidance that is always there. As I’ve felt, listened to, and followed this guidance, I’ve received just the inspiration I’ve needed when I’ve needed it. I’ve learned just what I needed to know as I needed to know it. I’ve been given just the right resources at just the right time—again and again.

I’ve found that this process has little to do with “me” or with believing in myself. If anything, it has to do with letting go of “me,” what I want, and how I think things “should happen.” As I let go of what I call “me” and “mine” I am shown again and again that Life has a Bigger Plan. And it’s this Bigger Plan that I can trust.

It appears to me that Life is infinitely intelligent and full of grace. Each of us is here on purpose, exactly as we are, to do what we are here to do. I’ve discovered that I can trust that. And, as I learn to trust that deeper guidance more and more, Life shows me that trust is warranted. I am grateful that I don’t need to believe in myself, because there’s something greater, One Life, supporting and guiding us all.

Enjoy your practice,

Kevin

Kevin Schoeninger

P.S. This week on Spiritual Growth Monthly, we’re practicing a powerful “Mindfulness Meditation” to help us let go of doubt, fear, and discomfort and discover a deeper peace underneath it all. Click here to learn more.

“Everything is as it is meant to be.” I received this message from the Giant Rock People while lying on the top of Cathedral Rock in Sedona this past weekend. In this post, we’ll explore what that could mean for you in this “epoch-making year of 2012.”

My wife and I take a yearly trip to Sedona Arizona to celebrate our Anniversary. One of our favorite events on this trip is our climb to the top of Cathedral Rock. This year that trek was particularly significant.

Before our hike, I was reading a book about how, if you are open to it, the sacred red rocks of places like Cathedral Rock, may give you messages. I was anxious to try this out—just to see what might happen.

It was a beautiful sunny spring day in Sedona as we made our way along the creek that borders the north of Cathedral Rock. Here’s a picture of the view from below:

After about 20 minutes, we reached the “ascent” where switchbacks begin to take you up the north and then the east side of this majestic mountain. For us, it takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours to make the climb, at times going on all fours up the rock face.

At the top, there are several perches from which you can view the sweeping landscape far below, lie in the sun, or rest in the shade with your back against the red rock walls. If you are open to it, when you sit at the top, if you close your eyes and “feel the mountain” you may find yourself “verrrryyy” relaxed, you might fall into a dreamy sleep, you might get messages—or none of this may happen.

As my wife and I sat at the topmost point, we watched various people come and go—each with their very own experience. There was a guy who you could hear coming from a distance, grunting and moving at an intense clip. I got from him that this was a “great workout” and he was determined to push himself up as fast as he could go. He reached the top, took a brief glimpse around, then told his pretty young girlfriend to “stand over there” so he could take her picture. She didn’t think “she looked good enough” after the tough climb and shooed him away.

There was a middle-aged couple. The woman got to the top and you could hear that her main concern was how scary it was to look at the way back down. She almost immediately began to back her way down, her husband, like a high school football coach at her side, telling her where to step and “how great she was doing.”

Then there was the barefoot girl. Yes, she had made the rocky hike barefoot. When she got to the top she found a nice slab in the sun and nestled in for a little rest with a smile on her face.

After looking around for a bit and wondering in amazement at how there seemed to be two Giant Rock People overlooking the spot, like guardians, my wife and I joined the barefoot girl’s style. After all, I was looking forward to “a message.”

The first message I received was “I am soooo relaxed.” I settled my spine against the cool and surprisingly soft red rocks and sunk in. I felt like I could rest here for ages.

I asked if there was any message the Rock People wanted to share. I rested and waited.

Before too long, the words, “Everything is as it is meant to be” came gently into my mind. As I wondered about the meaning of that, I saw images of past events in my life that had seemed like they were “mistakes,” or felt “painful,” or “confusing,” and I saw that they were exactly as they were meant to be. I wouldn’t be “here, now” without those experiences, exactly as they were. I felt a great comfort in that. I felt “It’s O.K. All of it. Every single detail.”

What if I went through life with that perspective? What if I accepted and appreciated the exact details of everything that is happening?
How would that shift my experience?

How might it shift yours?

How would it change your life if you listened for messages from the rocks? Or the trees? Or the sky? Or . . .

At the end of last week, I was tapped out. I felt like I’d given everything I had, yet still had more to do. Though the weekend was coming, that too was filled with a nice-sized TO DO List. So, approaching the Qigong Meditation class that I teach every Friday afternoon felt a bit daunting. How would I summon up the energy to give a good class? What I didn’t know was that I would discover the answer in that very class.

Fortunately, I’ve taught this class for years, so I trust the practice and my ability to lead it. Usually, I begin with a little talk on some pertinent insight related to what we are about to do. However, this day, as I contemplated what to say, the words in my head were: “I got nothing.”

O.K. I’d really have to trust the practice today. I decided to dispense with the intro talk and just dive into it. I would let go, be present with what we were doing, and feel it “live” in the moment. I would “get out of the way,” which would be easy because I had no energy to be “in the way” or “take control” of how the class would go.

As I let go of trying at all, and just sunk into feeling the inner cues that begin our practice, I felt a “deep resonance” in my voice that I didn’t expect. Honestly, I felt a little relieved to find that quality there without any effort of “trying” on my part. I followed that feeling and continued through the form, keeping my internal focus on being present, feeling what was happening, and allowing that to come through my voice.

As we went along, I could feel the energy in the room getting very quiet and deeply relaxed. I found myself naturally expressing what was going on using some words I hadn’t used in that class before such as “Feel yourself as a simple presence with nothing else attached.”

At the end of class, we go around the room and I invite our class members to describe, “How did that feel today?” There was a general consensus that the room felt “very quiet” today, as if we had left the world and gone to a peaceful oasis. While I am well familiar with that feeling and relax into it as a daily practice, it was particularly deep and stayed with me particularly strongly the rest of that day—and I still feel it on this Monday.

So, that is my message for you today. In whatever you are doing, see if there might be something in this for you: